


My Heart Breaks With Every Scar You Take

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: Fratt Week 2020 [5]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Boys In Love, Drabble, Fluff and Angst, Fratt Week 2020, Hurt Matt Murdock, M/M, Protective Frank Castle, Scars, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24448834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: Frank knows Matt loves him and he knows he loves Matt. It doesn't have to be said and really it's better that way.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Series: Fratt Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759633
Comments: 11
Kudos: 104
Collections: Fratt Week





	My Heart Breaks With Every Scar You Take

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fratt week event and the prompt: Bone

Frank watched in silence as the chaotic mixture of lights played across Matt’s bare body from the neon sign outside his bedroom. The shades were drawn but it still managed to seep into the room, almost like it belong there, like it was a simple and irreversible part of Matt’s home. Frank had thought it would be maddening, might even trigger a flashback or two when it flickered. He was never more glad to be wrong, instead it truly had become something of a staple, an image burned into his brain, the sight of Matt, laying in this bed, unbothered and peaceful amidst the chaos others might not be able to bear.

Sliding a hand slowly up Matt’s stomach, he watched, entranced at the way his skin prickled under the delicate touch, hypersensitive and ready to react at any moment. As for the man himself, he had one arm up and behind the pillow, head tilted up just a bit, eyes closed, and lovely kiss reddened lips parted just a little.

Frank wasn’t the poetic type, couldn’t weave together pretty words and useless declarations to describe what he saw, what he felt. That didn’t stop him from trying though, if only to see Matt smile, to hear a quiet laugh slip out into the space between them. Usually, they were painfully inaccurate, and Frank could turn it into a bit of a joke, something for them both to be distracted over. On days like this though, well Frank wished he had a notebook so he could compose the perfect words to make Matt understand how much Frank loved him, for better or for worse.

Not that it mattered. That wasn’t how they were, and Frank was still far too scared to fall so easily into the trap his heart had set for him. He didn’t begrudge Matt’s role as Daredevil even if their views on life and justice veered sharply away but it was constantly in the back of his mind, that any day now Frank could show up here and Matt would be gone, dead or dying all by himself on some filthy street because someone managed to get past him. Frank wasn’t ready to put it all on the line and neither was Matt.

That man’s problems were different. He knew some of Frank’s beliefs, some of the things he’d done in the past weighed heavy on Matt, made him hesitate on nights like this, when they put up a charade and let all the bullshit fall away. Frank didn’t mind, it was fair enough really, everyone had a price to pay. The problem…and it was stupid of him, just another symptom of his traitorous heart, was that Matt’s moral conflict wasn’t the biggest thing standing between them.

Elektra. Matt still loved her, missed her, woke up screaming with tears in his eyes from nightmares where he lost her all over again. Frank was too old to be jealous of a dead woman, especially when he wasn’t ready to jump into it himself, but that didn’t change the fact that it rubbed him the wrong way every time Matt brushed off his worries, refused to talk about her, in any context. He’d done some digging of course, wanted to know more, and it only served to frustrate him.

He wanted Matt to tell him. Wanted Matt to trust him.

It was pointless. They might love each other, and they might know they love each other, in their own kind of ways, that didn’t mean the words would ever or should ever be spoken out loud. There was too much that could go wrong, too much at risk.

“This one,” Frank murmured, trying to distract himself from his morose thoughts and tapping at a long white scar on Matt’s wrist.

Humming, Matt lifted his hand and turned it like he knew exactly how to make it so the lights dancing across his wrist would make it seem almost insignificant compared to when it had been cast in shadow. It didn’t matter, Frank wasn’t looking at his wrist anymore, he was watching Matt’s face, knew that every time he asked about a scar an entire story played out in his expression. Sometimes it made perfect sense with whatever came out of his mouth, other times it was completely different.

Matt pursed his lips, moved his wrist in slow circles like he was testing it, “broken. Snapped like a twig and just managed to break the skin. I’m told it was pretty impressive, bone stuck out and everything. I went to the hospital, told them I fell down and landed wrong, was pissed when I found out I’d need a cast.”

Frank huffed and reached out to snag that hand and pulled it close to his face, examining the scar. It must have been pretty bad; he’d noticed that Matt seemed to protect this hand when possible which meant it probably never healed right. Without thinking too hard about it, Frank pressed a kiss to the scar, tongue swiping along the bump in the otherwise smooth skin. He felt more then heard Matt’s breath stop, tension running through his body abruptly.

He was unapologetic, “you lied.”

Matt relaxed, shrugged, “you wouldn’t believe how many injuries you can explain with a fall when you’re blind. But yes, I did fall, that just wasn’t what broke my wrist.”

“Who,” Frank corrected easily.

“Who,” Matt agreed. “Stick was trying to teach me something new and I messed up. I had practiced for hours that day, got sloppy which was something he liked to point out. Apparently, I had no stamina.”

“You certainly do now.”

Matt rolled his eyes, “Stick snapped it when trying to show me how to slip out of a complicated hold.”

Frank had guessed and not for the first time he wished he could meet that piece of shit face to face before he died. Then again, from the way Matt spoke, he probably would never be forgiven for what he’d do to that old man and maybe it was for the best he was already dead.

“Frank. Stop, I can hear your heartbeat moving faster.”

“Sorry,” he wasn’t.

Matt sighed but he was smiling, “I know.”


End file.
